Starting Out with an Infinite Skill Tree!

Chapter 28

Chapter 28. The World Materialized from the Mindscape! It's Another Day for World Peace!

Before the words even faded, a roaring whirlwind erupted.

“Reality Marble?!—What’s that supposed to be!?” Cidy froze, her movements halting for a moment. Yet another unfamiliar term.

As the light around her shifted and twisted, Cidy couldn’t help but close her eyes. When she opened them again, the sight before her left her utterly speechless.

The wind blowing against her was bone-chilling, as if it sought to freeze everything it touched.

It was neither the scorching wind of a desert nor the gentle breeze of a forest.

An unknown, frigid wind gnawed at the very fabric of the world—and then overturned it.

Distance and space lost all meaning. The gale that swept in from the wasteland reshaped everything in its path.

At the far edge of the horizon, the twilight sky gleamed with the color of a dying sun, where massive gears slowly turned across a celestial backdrop like a painted canvas.

On barren hills devoid of any greenery, countless unfamiliar blades were thrust into the earth—replacing what had once been vast woodlands.

And then—

More swords began to rain down from the heavens, falling like a storm. Thud! Thud! Thud!

It was a desolate world, as though all had been scorched by a flame so cold it froze instead of burned.

The world shifted before her eyes.

Heaven and earth reversed. The sun, moon, and stars were all rewritten—an event so miraculous that words failed to describe it.

The words at Cidy’s throat caught mid-breath, trapped there as if clenched by an invisible hand. Her body trembled.

“N-No way… You—you’ve reached your own ‘Principle’?!” the girl cried in disbelief.

Then she suddenly remembered the word Yan had spoken moments ago.

The beginning and the end matched… No—this was the power of the Word Chain! This “world” had been materialized through the power of words!

Realizing that, Cidy’s heart finally eased a little.

Though what lay before her was still overwhelming, at least…

It was easier to accept than to believe that a boy barely into his teens had already reached the pinnacle of magic and grasped the Principle itself.

“This… this must be someone else’s Principle. You borrowed another’s high-level magic!” Cidy said, her breath unsteady as she affirmed her own reasoning.

The magic before her was without question of forbidden level—

the kind that should be recorded among the forbidden books, possessing the power to rewrite the laws of reality itself.

The entire landscape changing in an instant was proof of a magic that had eroded the real world.

Yet the cold wind brushing against her skin, the fine grains of sand beneath her feet, the vivid texture of the world itself—all whispered the same thing to her: this wasn’t illusion. This was a real world.

But—

One person… had created an entirely new world!? What kind of joke was this?

Where was the logic behind this magic!? What rule had been rewritten!?

Could a magic truly exist that altered the very fabric of the world?

Just how much mana would that require!?

Even most gods couldn’t do this—toppling heaven and earth, replacing the sun, moon, and stars in a single instant.

This was undoubtedly a trespass upon the forbidden law of Creation itself.

Cidy’s body trembled uncontrollably. Her scalp tingled.

Only an ancient Creator God, the kind mentioned briefly in myths of Genesis, could ever achieve such a feat!

And now, such an absurd scene unfolded before her eyes. Her worldview was shattering piece by piece.

…

In truth, a Reality Marble wasn’t nearly as mystical as Cidy imagined.

Though it did stand as one of the greatest feats of magic—a miracle in itself—its essence wasn’t a direct alteration of the real world.

Such exaggerated magic was difficult even for the gods themselves to perform.

“A Reality Marble,” Yan explained slowly, watching Cidy shake her head in disbelief,

“is a form of magic that materializes a magician’s internal world. Once activated, it replaces the surrounding space with an entirely different landscape.

In other words, it’s the materialization of one’s mindscape.

A Reality Marble doesn’t actually change the reality itself—but instead, it swaps the scale between oneself and the world.

In that moment, the magician becomes vast, and the world becomes small—sealed within a tiny vessel. That miniature world is called the World Egg—the theoretical name for the concept.”

The fiery vortex in Cidy’s palm dissipated without her noticing, scattered by the biting wind.

Her wide eyes stared blankly at Yan—and at the sky of endless gears turning above him. She shivered.

Still holding her hand outstretched, she stood frozen in place.

“M-Mindscape… materialization?”

“Exactly. Once you understand the theory, you can manifest a Reality Marble through your Magic Circuits. But maintaining such a vast mental world is no easy task. Especially since—this ‘world’ doesn’t originally belong to me.”

“You—you used the power of Word Manifestation to borrow it!? Are you using the world itself to supply mana to your smaller mindscape!?”

Sss~! Cidy’s scalp prickled as her lips parted in disbelief.

This kid was barely ten years old… and he had calculated even that!?

Damn it!

She had completely lost the information war!

The method of using Magic Circuits for battle—while Cidy could quickly adapt to it using her experience as a mage—to directly counter a Reality Marble that had reached the level of Principles? That was pure fantasy.

At this point, the pressure was unbearable. Facing this high-level magic, she felt like she might just blow herself up right then and there.

If it’s a borrowed mindscape… then it must be one of the stronger Reality Marbles!

An endless wasteland filled with swords, sparks dancing like stars, and colossal gears in the distance—like a vast foundry or forge…

What kind of person would have such an inner world!? What kind of power could command every sword here to attack me? Cidy thought, shuddering at the thought.

Then, Yan slowly raised his right arm.

“He’s—!”

Cidy’s face changed instantly as she realized he was about to cast another spell.

I can’t let him keep acting freely—this boy is far too dangerous! If I don’t interrupt him now, I’ll be completely at his mercy!!!

But while Cidy’s mind raced in alarm—

Yan’s movements were even faster!

In the next instant, dozens of blades—wrapped in blue arcs of lightning—were drawn from the ground by invisible hands and floated behind him.

Then—

Just like before, when he used Projection Magic to attack Cidy—the scene repeated itself!

“I—!”

“Da—!” The curse almost escaped Cidy’s lips as she watched.

This time, Yan didn’t even bother with the projection process.

Whizz! Whizz! Whizz! BOOM!!!

And in the next moment, the air filled with the most beautiful sound in the world—

The sound of world peace.